Nissan taps Audi veteran to lead Infiniti brand

Reuters: Nissan Motor Co named a 19-year veteran of Volkswagen AG’s Audi unit to run its luxury brand Infiniti as the number two Japanese automaker moves to challenge the dominance of German rivals in key markets, including China.

Johan de Nysschen will be senior vice president in charge of Nissan’s Infiniti division starting on 1 July. He will be based in Hong Kong, where Infiniti opened its new global headquarters on 22 May.

De Nysschen will report to Andy Palmer, Nissan’s head of product planning and business strategy. Nissan aims to sell 500,000 Infiniti vehicles globally by 2016. China will account for a large portion of that growth.

“Johan is a highly successful global luxury automotive executive and his leadership of Infiniti will be a key factor in realising the potential of the Infiniti brand,” Palmer said in a statement.

De Nysschen was named president of Audi’s US operations in December 2004. From 2004 to 2011, Audi’s US sales jumped by more than half and its market share expanded.

Last week, Volkswagen said it was reshuffling its management team. A person familiar with the matter said de Nysschen’s departure was unrelated to this overhaul.

At Infiniti, de Nysschen will be responsible for challenging Audi’s dominance in China, which is the largest auto market in the world. In 2011, Nissan sold just over 16,000 Infiniti vehicles in China while Audi sold 300,000.

To raise its profile in China, Nissan announced earlier this year that it will start building vehicles in China from 2014.

Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn has said the soaring yen has made it difficult for Infiniti to reach its goal of making up 10 percent of global luxury sales.